Platy Identification

[Rat]

I always call her a she so I hope she is lol
she's rather special (to me anyway)

 

[fluttermoth]

Didn't even know you could get a swordtail/platy hybrid!

All pet shop swordtails are platy/swordtail hybrids nowadays (at least according to Dr Endler!); they're very closely related, so have fertile fry.

Here's my very favourite platy/swordtail fact;

female platies actually prefer males with swords, even though males of their own species don't grow them! If you give them a choice between males with swords and males without, they always pick the ones with swords. You can even make them choose one male platy over another by gluing a false sword onto the male platy's tail

How cool is that!

It's one of the pieces of evidence that runaway sexual selection (like in the tail of the male peacock; why do so many females, of differing species, like long tails?) is caused by female preference, not evolution of the trait itself.

 

[OldMan47]

That tail fin configuration is called a pin tail. It is a genetic change so it can be passed on to your fry.